STATEMENT OF CONVICTION AGAINST THE USE OF NUCLEAR WEAPONS

OFFERED BY FRIENDS OF BRISTOL AND FRENCHAY QUAKER MEETING

AND SIGNED BY CHURCH LEADERS 2007

"As followers of Jesus Christ, we find the use and the threatened use of weapons o mass destruciton wholly inconsisent with his life and teaching. We also deplore the proposed use of vast financial resources on the replacement of Trident, in a world whose inequalities are a reproach to us all. True peace cannot exister where injustice reigns.

We urge the government to be more open in this debate, both on the Trident issue and on the huge developments at the Aldermaston Research Establishment.

It is our great hope that the government will honour the implementation of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. Thus we would lead the world away from the blief that nations should acquire nuclear weapons to become safe, and towards a sustainable peace.

We call upon Christians to speak out for peace and justice and to make their convictions known to those in power."

Signed by the Bishops of Bath and Wells, Sherbourne, Plymouth, Crediton, Taunton, Exeter, Salisbury, Gloucester, Bristol, Swindon and Tewkesbury, the Catholic Bishop of Clifton, the Methodist District Chairman, the Senior Pastor of Woodlands Christian Centre, the Baptist Area Sujperintendent, the URC Moderator of the South-West Synod, the Archdeacon of Bristol, the Archdeacon of Malmsbury and the Clerk to Bristol and Frenchay Monthly Meeting (Quakers).

Quakers were greatly helped by the Bishop of Bristol who contacted all the signatories and asked them to sign.